I'm Sorry Remastered
by Ghost501
Summary: Everyone in life has had a regret in their life. Some part that could be tweaked just a tad to make life better. Lan Hikari is no different. Hero of ACDC with several moments he wishes could have panned out differently, including the time when he let his mouth run in front of both his high school bully and his best friend, Mayl Sakurai. Remastered/Altered form of I'm Sorry.
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone! Ghost501 here, but you probably already knew that. Anyhow, welcome back to _I'm Sorry_. Things are going to be very different this time around. As some of you may remember, last time in _I'm Sorry_ we were dealing with a depressed Lan dealing with him inadvertently causing his brother's deletion and loss at a chance of love. He was then turned into a navi for the rest of his life. There are going to be some changes this time around…but I'll explain those in the end. Enjoy _I'm Sorry Remastered_!

Oh, and the date for DN3 still is March 21; it won't be changing.

* * *

"Come on…wake up," Lan said to his pale faced friend. He sat in shock, still somewhat unable to believe what had happened. It all happened to fast. A part of him believed that it wasn't true. He was in a dream. This whole day didn't happen. He would wake up thanks to his brother, get ready for school, catch up with Mayl for a while as they walked, be bored for eight hours, and then find something on the Net to do for the rest of the day. Mayl would be at school doing her project; Yai would probably be with her and Dex would be at school too…only for detention.

He would talk to his brother Megaman, avoiding any conversation about his newly discovered crush and life would continue on as normal. But as he took the teenager's hand in his own, reality set in. This day did happen. This was real. He had given into his frustration and made a decision he knew he'd regret for the rest of his life. She had heard him and ran off. And now, she was suffering for it. She'd been hurt far worse than he would have ever imagined. Lan sighed as he looked away from the girl for a moment; the raw facts sinking in. Mayl had been hit by a car. She had just gotten out of surgery and stabilized. She was lying before him in a hospital bed, the anesthesia slowly wearing off.

Lan blinked some tears out of his eyes as he looked back at the girl. If the ground could have swallowed him, he would have let it. This was his fault; all of it. He should have chased after her. He shouldn't have let his temper flare up out of control. He should have just told her. But he hadn't done any of those things.

The brunette cursed himself. Why was everyone around him cursed with _his_ bad luck? Why was he so stupid! He almost had his father killed in the SciLab fire years ago by allowing himself to be tricked into helping Mr. Match with his plot to destroy the science facility. His brother had died in order for him to live. Granted, there was no way he could have seen Alpha coming to "eat" them, but he still felt responsible for not thinking of a different plan. And now, his best friend in the world was in a hospital bed, white as a sheet.

What would it take for his own bad luck to hit him for once? Why did it always have to affect someone else? It was his life. His decisions! Why wasn't the punishment his? Why was it that someone else always got hurt? Someone else always took the bullet for him and left him alone, scared, scarred, and shattered. Every time, he was forced to watch someone else suffer because of his actions. He felt like a plague upon the world; heck, maybe he was one.

The teenager shut his eyes and put his head on the soft bed, "Please Mayl…just wake up."

* * *

_"Finally, I thought I was about to fall asleep in that last class," Lan said as the final bell rang. Lan gathered his book—which had been on the same page for twenty minutes—and placed it in his bag._

_ "You did fall asleep. You just caught yourself before the teacher did," Megaman pointed out. Despite being sixteen now, Lan still had a tendency to drift off during class. He had gotten better over the years and avoided dozing during every class, but there were some days where he just couldn't help himself._

_ "What? I did? Why didn't you wake me?" Lan asked as he got up from his seat._

_ "You know Ms. Yuri hates it when people are too loud, including Net Navis. Remember the last time I tried to wake you up in her class?"Megaman said, staring unamused at the boy._

_ "Oh, yeah…heh…sorry about that," Lan said, putting a hand behind his head. Megaman intensified his stare, now very much a glare. The blue navi hadn't enjoyed being yelled at by both Ms. Yuri and her navi, Waveman. Both of them knew how to give someone an earful. Lan had actually gotten off pretty easy, didn't even get detention. His brother on the other hand, got a lecture about how good navis need to look out for their NetOps, including making sure they go to bed on time, from Waveman. Neither of them actually expected the navi to be so serious about Marine Science class, but maybe his NetOp had rubbed off a little too well on him._

_ "Yeah, yeah, yeah…you still owe me for that by the way. So, what are you going to do when you get home?" his brother asked as Lan exited the class room. The last class of the day was over and the weekend was here._

_ "Well, I didn't really get a lot of homework. Mayl's doing a project after school today. Which means I'll probably have to do that tomorrow." Lan mumbled._

"_Do what tomorrow?" Megaman asked._

"_Oh…um…well…" a loud blush ran across the boy's face. He really had to be careful with what he said around Hub. He swore his brother had ears like a hawk, even as a navi. And anyway, he had no plans on giving his brother any dirt on him before he had some on Hub to keep him quiet. Plus, it was such a stupid idea. He didn't even know why he was bothering with it._

_ "What? You're not thinking about asking a girl to the dance next Saturday; are you, Lan? Especially not a certain red head we both know." Megaman asked with a smirk. He had a suspicion his brother had started having feelings for a certain red head who was no longer in any of his classes. Lan had been deliberately trying to avoid any and all subject involving Mayl Sakurai in a romantic setting over the past year. However, the stuttering and sleep talking gave him away. He was just lucky that he had almost completed corrected his old habits of sleeping in class. Hub snickered to himself thinking about his brother confessing his love for Mayl in the middle of Chemistry class, one of the few periods he and her shared._

_ "NO! I'm…um…thinking we should go to Higsby's to pick up some new battlechips," Lan said. He was less than stellar about realizing his crush on his best friend over the past year. He didn't even know what happened. Just one day during sophomore year, his heart started beating like crazy when she was around. Then there was the fluttering and the sweaty palms. It was a thing that he hated dealing with. It made dealing with Mayl a lot more awkward and he was in no hurry to complicated their years of friendship._

_ "Suuurrrre, so when should I tell mom and dad about your girlfriend?" Megaman asked as Lan exited the school building. With Mayl out of the picture for today, Megaman was going to enjoy his revenge for being chewed out last week._

_ "Girlfriend? Please, I don't have a girlfriend…" Lan waved his hand. Suddenly, the boy started smirking. Hub had a bad feeling that his plan had some unforeseen holes in it, "In fact, out of anyone of us, I'd say you're the one with the double life Megaman."_

_ "What are you talking about?"Megaman said, trying to think a few steps ahead of his brother. If this conversation was going where he thought it was going, he was going to need a plan._

_ "Oh, don't think I didn't hear about the Sadie Hawkins dance." Lan said smugly, knowing that he was closing the gap of wiggle room Megaman had._

_ "What about it? Roll didn't want to go alone," the blue navi said, brushing off his comment. He thought he was going to ask about the fact that Roll had suggested going to the new Net Area that had opened up today. Totally not as a date of course, just a couple of red faced friends walking around trying not to do anything awkward to scare off the other. The normal._

_ "Why didn't she ask Gylde?" Lan argued, he hadn't expected Megaman to be so nonchalant about it._

_ "Remember, Yai went on that trip to Creamland. Gylde wasn't here."_

_ "True," Lan sighed. Time for a different approach, "I guess that rumor I heard about Roll and Scion was right after all."_

_ "What rumor?" Megaman asked, expressing a bit too much interest. He hadn't heard anything recent in the grapevine—in fact he often tried to avoid the drama—but ever so often he would hear something that caught his ear. But he hadn't heard anything about Scion, the green Net Navi of a senior._

_ "Oh you know, Scion asked her out, she went with him, they're getting married in two weeks," Lan said cackling, unable to keep his façade. That little reaction had given away a lot more than his brother thought. Although he still carried a bit of his laziness, Lan's density had worn off; making him much more aware of things and people around him._

_ Megaman blew a quick sigh of relief until he realized his mistake. He had just shown random interest in Roll's love life. He was her best friend! Why should he care? Scion wasn't a bad navi; actually he was incredibly well mannered—even Gylde would complement his them. Megaman slowly looked back at his brother who was smiling wide. Uh oh…_

_ "My my, how the the tables have turned Hub. Your turn now. How's Roll?"_

_ "She's…fine? Heh…" Megaman said, getting nervous. He somewhat hated his brother becoming more observant. It made it harder to hide his crush on Roll._

_ "Of course, she is. Why wouldn't she be? But…"_

_ "Hey Hikari!" a gruff voice said, cutting Lan off._

_ "Oh crap…" Lan groaned; Megaman facepalmed. Just who they didn't need to interrupt _this_ conversation: Rickie and Crashman. The pair had become a quick enemy and bully to both Hikaris in the eighth grade. Lan and Hub merely guessed that they were jealousy of their closeness to Mayl and Roll since it was no secret that Rickie had a crush on Mayl. Crashman never really pursued Roll as a love interest, but the navi enjoyed mercilessly teasing Megaman. _

_ "Top of the afternoon to you, Mega-brat," Crashman snickered as he walked over to Megaman._

'Shoot. Knew I forgot something.'_Megaman thought as the orange navi walked closer to him. Lan and Rickie had been assigned a project in English earlier that quarter. However, this resulted in the two—unfortunately—trading PET security cube codes. Megaman had meant to change his after the fact but had forgotten._

_ "My my, Lan Hikari. Beautiful day isn't it?" the black haired boy asked. He wore a smug look as he adjusted his black windbreaker. He tried to puff out his chest, though to Lan it only made him look more stupid than menacing. The brunette resisted the urge to laugh, maybe he would be in luck and the boy would trip. At least then there was a chance of those stupid sunglasses falling to the ground and breaking. Rickie could go on for days about how the shades could make him look so cool._

_ "What do you want Rickie?" Lan said exasperatedly, trying to find a way around the boy. The sky was beginning to darken; the boy remembered his brother saying that the forecast mentioned thunderstorms today._

_ "Lan. We've known each other a pretty long time now, right?" Rickie said, putting an arm around the boy._

_ "Unfortunately," Lan shrugged off the arm and shot the bully a look. How many times did he have to broadcast that he did not like this kid before he took the hint?_

_ "Well, since we're such good friends…I decided it's time to clear up some smoke. What're your feelings towards Mayl?" he asked._

_ "WHAT? I'm her best friend, not her boyfriend. If I had any—which I don't—why on earth would I tell you?" Lan rolled his eyes. He knew the boy was crazy, but now he just wasn't making any sense. Though, a small piece of him cringing after he denied his feelings towards her. Something about it just didn't seem right._

_ "Good. I was just makin' sure. 'Cause I was thinking of asking her to the dance next Saturday. I needed to know if I should put on my D game or not." The boy said cockily._

_ "D Game? Please, you wouldn't even be able to get her to bat an eyelash at you even if you put on your S game." Lan spoke back. Normally he was a much nicer guy, but something about this kid made his blood boil. Rickie was insultive, cocky, annoying, and much more. In Lan's opinion, the only thing he needed were rich parents…then he could put spoiled on that list. _

_Rickie was the type of guy who believed he could get anything he wanted. Often times, his attempts blew up in his face, but every now and again he would get lucky._

_ "Yeah, I mean come on," the green eyed boy said, completely ignoring Lan's insult, "Why would she go for you? You're the best friend. But you're also a world savior so you got that going for you. But still, I just needed to confirm. For all I knew, you and her could've been doing some kind of secret dating thing."_

_ "And what if we were?" Lan smirked back, trying to get back at him. He hoped Hub was having an easier time with Crashman, though odds are he wasn't. Many times—if it wasn't for the wireless lock that each NetOp had to turn on before entering the school—fights would have broken out between the two navis. On some level, it was a good thing that Mayl was often in classes with Lan whenever he had one with Rickie. At least then, Roll would be able to break up the fight. Crashman wouldn't dare raise a finger on her because it would only anger Mayl which would in turn destroy any "chance" his NetOp had._

_ "Well, that would be some big news Lan. I'm sure some of the people I know wouldn't mind knowing that info. But then again, I know a lot of loud mouths…" Rickie trailed off. Lan growled quietly. The boy was backing him into a corner. One, Mayl hated being at the center of attention, especially when it came to rumors. Two, odds are that she would just deny the claim and assume that he had started the rumor, causing harm to their relationship._

_ Lan stared harshly back at the smirking boy, "Well, you're in luck. I'm not dating Mayl and I'm not in love with her."_

_ "Are you sure? I mean you did just imply that you may or may not have been dating her. How can I trust you?" the boy said sporting his disgusting smirk._

_ "I SAID I'M NOT IN LOVE WITH MAYL! NEVER WAS! NEVER WILL BE! THERE THAT'S THE TRUTH!" Lan yelled breathing hard; he didn't remember the last time when someone had gotten him this worked up before._

_ "Alright. I believe you. Nice talking with you, Lan," the boy said, patting his shoulder and walking away._

_ Lan stood there in silence before turning to his PET, "Did that seem a little weird to you, Megaman? Megaman?" Lan said, before realizing that Hub was wearing a sad look on his face. The navi opened his mouth and promptly closed it. It was almost as if he was trying to phrase something but couldn't. As Lan was about to ask his brother what was up, he subconsciously checked the PET's navi log. He felt his heart drop as he realized that Roll had entered Lan's PET only two minutes ago. But if Roll was close by, that would mean that…_

_ "Oh no," Lan breathed as he whirled around. No…no...NO! She had been there. No, he was just upset; he hadn't meant it! She wasn't supposed to hear that. She was supposed to be at school working on her project! As Lan ran to where she had been standing, he reached down and picked up her hair clip. It had been one of the few pieces she had kept of her original style as a kid._

_ "They finished early; Roll was trying to surprise me before breaking up the fight. Then…" Hub explained._

_ "Mayl…" Lan said, not being able to see where she went. Before he could begin to look for her, lightning sparked in the clouds and thunder boomed. The hard cold rain began to surround him in secondes. He wouldn't be able to find her in this storm. Lan turned around and ran back home. However, by the time he was back he was beginning to have trouble figuring out what wet his face more. The rain or his tears._

* * *

Update: Friday/Saturday (More than likely Friday)

Part 9 of MMBN6 Let's Play: watch?v=zqGp_9pF05w


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to mikanflower who has joined the Megaman Net Navi Era Community! ( u/2890424/mikanflower)

* * *

_Roll had never seen Mayl so distressed. After Lan's outburst, she immediately jacked out and return back to her PET, only to watch Mayl sprint off to another section of ACDC town. She tried to get the girl to stop, but her voice was drowned out by the rain and Mayl's own emotions. After a while, she finally stopped running. As she came to a halt, Mayl looked around, trying to figure out where she was. The rain wasn't making things any easier to see. Unfortunately, several parts of ACDC had been expanded upon and built over the years. _

_ The girl blinked around with teary eyes. Her face was streaked with tear stains, but with the hard rain falling it was difficult to tell, "Roll, where are we?"_

_ "We're not too far from home. Maybe only about a third of a mile," Roll smiled softly. At least Mayl was talking again, "Why don't we head home? You'll catch a cold in this rain."_

_ "Yeah," Mayl shivered as the adrenaline began to fade away, "But which way did I come in?"_

_ "From the right. I've was keeping track of you while you were running," Roll said as her NetOp began to walk in the direction that she had said._

_ Mayl hiccupped, "Why didn't you get me to stop running?"_

_ "I did. You couldn't hear me over the rain. Take a left down this road."_

_ Mayl sighed, "Oh, I'm sorry."_

"_It's okay, Mayl," Roll paused for a moment, "Do you want to talk about it? It might make you feel better."_

_It was a while before Mayl nodded and stared talking, "I guess I should've seen this coming. He's never like me like I have. I've had a crush on Lan ever since the fifth grade. I've tried to give him hints, but he never notices them. I've just been so scared to tell him for so long. I didn't want to complicate things between us. I was scared that he'd reject me and that things would just become awkward between us. And now, it's not even worth it. He doesn't love me. He never will either."_

_ "Hey, you don't know that. He didn't say that." Roll argued, trying to bring her friend out of her depression. Lan was always a tricky subject with Mayl. Mayl never denied having an interest in Lan among Yai or Roll—after they coaxed it out of her—but she was also not very public about it. Over the years, Mayl had learned how to be much more secretive about her crush, while somehow trying to be obvious about her hints to Lan. The poor boy still wasn't very good at detecting a girl's feelings._

_ "He may not have, but it doesn't leave much for a girl to hope for does it," Mayl sulked. Thunder boomed over her head as the rain came down even harder. Her dark blue jacket that Yai had gotten her for her birthday was completely soaked. All the red haired girl wanted to do was to wrap herself in a blanket and go back to sleep. Maybe this day had just been a bad dream and she wake up with Lan next to…oh wait…that was only in her dreams too._

_ "But there still is a chance Mayl. Who knows, maybe he'll just wake up one morning and realize the best girl he could get with has been his neighbor the whole time. Oh, just cross the road right here. When you get to the sidewalk, just hang a right. That'll send us straight back home." Roll said, she knew that Mayl had a stubborn streak of believing that Lan didn't have an interest in her. Roll had no idea why. Mayl was everything that a boy should love in a girl. The pink navi couldn't come up with any reasons why Lan wouldn't fall in love with her._

_ Mayl rolled her eyes as she looked both ways, "That's only in fairy tales, Roll."_

_ "It doesn't have to be. It's not unheard of best friends falling in love with one another. Plus, think about who he was yelling it. You know that Lan hates Rickie. Maybe the two just got into it and…MAYL LOOK OUT!"_

* * *

_ "Lan, you've been staring out of the window for the past two hours. It's okay; she'll be back home soon," Hub reassured his brother. The brunette had been in a mess since he came back home. The only thing he had done was say a quiet hello to his mother, walked into his room, and flopped onto the bed staring out through that window. Hub really felt bad for his brother; he had become a shell of his former self in less time that he thought imaginable._

_ The rain had stopped about thirty minutes ago, but the sky was still dark and gloomy. Almost as if it knew something that the rest of the world didn't. Megaman sighed as he turned back to his brother. He wished that Lan had said anything other than what had been said. He wished Roll had gotten their earlier to break up the fight between him and Crashman so that he could get Lan away from him. He wished that Rickie had just never showed up._

_Megaman looked back at his brother, hoping that there was something he could do to break the boy's downward spiral. The only problem was that there was only one person who could fix this, and Hub wasn't a red haired girl. As the navi sighed, someone jacked into his PC._

"_MEGA! LAN!" Roll cried out as she jumped into Megaman's arms._

"_Wha? Roll? What's wrong?" Megaman asked the bawling navi as Lan ran over to the computer, moving for the first time in two hours._

"_Mayl…she…I tried to…" the female navi sputtered. Megaman grabbed her shoulders and the two navis stared into each other's eyes, "Roll. Calm down. You're not making any sense. What happened to Mayl?" Megaman asked again._

"_She…she's hurt. Really bad. She was just walking across the street. But it was raining so hard, I didn't see it until too late. She just…then the PET flew out of her hands…it just…." Roll said, crying into the blue navi's chest._

"_Where is she?" Lan said quickly, his mind racing._

"_She's at Beach Street Hospital," Roll sniffled, "She was in surgery when I left. I would have come to you guys sooner, but my PET was damaged. It took them a while for them to get my data out of it."_

"_Alright, we'll head there now then. Roll, you going to have to stay in my PET until Mayl's gets repaired okay," Lan said. The pink navi nodded her head and both her and Megaman were jacked out._

* * *

"La…Lan?" a soft voice called out. The brunette's head rose as he stared back into Mayl's brown ones. Her eyes were open and some color had returned back into her face. The girl seemed completely spent; but she was alive!

"Mayl! You're awake!" Lan said happily as he grabbed her hand. He didn't remember falling asleep, but at that moment he didn't care. She was awake and alive and not dead!

"Where…What happened?" the red haired girl asked, looking around the hospital room.

"You're in the hospital. You…you were hit by a car. It was so dark and with all the rain, the driver couldn't see you. You were in surgery for an hour," Lan sighed in relief and hugged her, "Don't you dare do that ever again to me."

Mayl giggled softly, "Consider it payback for all those times you almost killed yourself and left me going crazy waiting for you to come back."

Lan could help but laugh at the young girl's comment. However, his face turned neutral as he stared back into her brown eyes, "Listen, Mayl…about earlier…" the girl looked like she wanted to talk, but remained quiet. Part of him scolded himself for rushing into this so early; he should have waited a while before bringing this up. Mayl's eyes revealed her uncertainty about the upcoming conversation, "I didn't mean it. At least not like it sounded. Rickie was just trying to get me mad; he just doesn't know when to quit. He wanted to ask you out to the dance next week and for whatever reason wanted to know if I liked you. I'm such an idiot. I just wanted to get him out of my face, I said the first thing I knew that would get him to leave. I'm so so sorry." Lan could feel his heart go into overdrive. How long could he actually keep this a secret?

Mayl fell quiet as stupidity washed over her; her earlier reaction seemed appropriate at the time. However, as she got over her moment, happiness began to replace her emotions as what Lan said rekindled something. Roll was right! There was still hope! A sudden warmth ran over her, "It's okay, Lan. I forgive you."

"Thank you," Lan said as he hugged her once again. However, as they broke away Lan noted that the girl felt a little warm. Maybe a reaction from the medicine? The two sat in awkward silence for a moment, neither really knowing which way this conversation would go. Despite really wanting to know what Lan thought of her, something else had caught her attention, "Hey Lan, where's Roll? Is she okay?" she said tiredly, she had a faint memory of the hearing the PET crack against the ground a second after she had gotten hit.

"She and Megaman went to go tell Glyde and Gutsman what happened. Those two should be here at any moment," Lan said as he watch the girl fight to stay awake. He hoped it wasn't for the sake of talking to him. However, something about her seemed very wrong. Now that he thought it about it, she still looked kinda sick. He but the back of his hand up to her head, "Are you feeling okay? You're a little warm."

"I don't think so…" she said as her face twisted to show a level of discomfort. Lan put the back of his hand up to her forehead, "Okay, just hold on okay. I'm going to go get a nurse."

"Okay…hurry…" the girl before her body started shutting down.

"Mayl? Mayl!" the brunet said, shaking the now unconscious girl lightly, "Mayl! Just hang on okay?" the boy ran out of the room, "Nurse! Nurse!"

* * *

None of this made any sense. The odds of any of this happening were slim; at least that what the doctors said before he ran. Lan stared off into the distance of his room. After he had gotten the nurse, they told him to stay outside and wait. Megaman and Roll came back minutes later; Dex and Yai weren't far behind them. It had been a long hour, but soon a doctor came back out with a morbid face. Mayl had an allergic reaction to the blood she had been given during surgery. It was rare that people had a reaction—and a severe one was even rarer—but unfortunately not unheard of.

After she had died, Lan hadn't stuck around much longer. He had bolted out of the hospital, disregarding Yai's and Dex's calls. All the way back home he kept thinking that this whole day was some kind of nightmare. It was anything but reality, a sick lie. When he walked back in his house, he slammed his door shut and locked it. Megaman had tried to talk to him; but between him not listening and Roll completely destroyed by her NetOp's sudden departure, the poor blue navi was spread thin. Eventually after a couple of minutes, Megaman realized that Lan wasn't going to crack and decided to leave him be for a while.

Lan shut his eyes as he tried to push this whole thing out of his head. However, he couldn't get her face out of his head. He wanted to wake up and see her smiling in the morning as they walked to school. He wanted her to not be dead. How many times had he cheated death? Why couldn't she just have been given one of his chances! She wasn't supposed to die before he could say I love you. She was supposed to go on to college and do something with her life. Mayl had always been the most disciplined out of the whole gang. Plus, she was the only one who could talk Lan out of his crazy schemes whenever he thought of them.

A small sigh left Lan. The more he tried to push Mayl out, the more she stayed. Was it too much to believe that ghosts could exist? They did in the cyber world, why not in really life right? He looked over at his desk; Mayl's hair clip laid next to his PET. Everyone was taking Mayl's death badly, but Lan was arguably taking it the worse. The boy walked over to his desk and grabbed the small clip.

"Lan?" Megaman asked, realizing his brother had moved. Roll had drained herself crying and now lay sleeping on the floor, probably believing that this whole day was a bug in her programming. The brunette tightened his hold on the only connection left to his best friend, his love.

"Why?" he hissed.

"Huh?" Why what Lan?" Megaman asked, unaware that he wasn't the one the question was thrown to.

"Why did you have to finish your project early? Why did you have to be right there when Rickie was? Why did you run? DAMN IT! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE! WHY COULDN'T I JUST TELL YOU THAT I LOVE YOU!" Lan yelled as he chucked the clip into mirror in his room. The glass cracked as the hair clip fell back onto the ground. Lan breathed hard as he stared at the little piece of destruction he had just caused. Seven years bad luck? Funny, the way he was feeling he already had sixteen. He hoped this was funny to whatever Grandmaster of Fate ordained this to happen. She was his best friend and the only girl he had ever loved. And now, she was gone. The boy looked out of his house as he slumped onto the ground. The rain was picking back up again; Lan stared at the ceiling.

'_I'm sorry I never got to say that I love you…It was my fault you died. I'm sorry Mayl...I...I let you down.'_ he thought as he closed his eyes. This wasn't a dream. This was life. Mayl was dead. And what made it worse was that she died not knowing that he loved her. And that was something that Lan would be sorry about for the rest of his life.

"Lan?" Megaman said, somewhat uncertain of just what kind of mental state his brother was in.

"I'm fine, Hub. Just...I need some time..." Lan said, as he shut his eyes. His body was crying out for him to go to sleep and put this whole day behind him. However, as he drifted off, he couldn't help but feel as though someone was next to him, "I'm sorry," he said right before he passed out.

* * *

He wasn't awake when someone's transparent hand nursed his cheek for a moment before kissing it lightly, "I love you too. I know it's hard now, but just rest. One day, we'll be together again." The ghost's eyes glanced up to the ceiling, although she saw more than that now. Mayl rested her head on Lan's shoulder as she drifted off. It seemed like all her life she was constantly trying to look out for him. Now...things seemed just as normal as ever. She had never really imagined much of a future without Lan. Her fantasies often involved being married to the growing young man one day. And maybe one day that could be a reality. She hadn't heard of ghosts not getting married, although she had only been dead for about an hour or so. But for now, she would just settle being his guardian ghost.

"Mega? Is that?" Roll asked. She had woken up after Lan had broken his mirror, but had decided to keep quiet.

"Looks like it. I guess the saying is true. Love beats all...including death." Megaman nodded as the two say the two teenagers snoozing next to each other. The blue navi smiled before giving his pink crying friend a hug. Maybe life wouldn't be so bad. After all, Mayl wasn't really gone, just invisible. Realizing this, Megaman gave a slight gulp. Well, better start getting used to ghosts...

* * *

I'mnotansweringthesequestionsbecauseRoll'sholdingherbowtomyhead...

1. Ghost? ...ARE YOU INSANE? YOU KILLED MAYL!

Yeah, I mostly did this because of a couple reasons. Lan's cheated death umpteen times, at this point it wouldn't seem that out of the way to see that he would eventually die from something (though by his luck that death will be natural causes). Megaman/Hub is another extremely hard person to kill. Especially since he can come back as long as Gramps's Note is still floating around. Plus, the original _I'm Sorry_ tried that and fell flat on its face. Over the months, I've used Megaman and Roll POVs a lot (excluding the DN series where there are at least four POVs needed to keep track of). In other words, I really just didn't feel like putting Roll in the firing line (she's had her life threatened at least two times in the DN series, I've written tragedies with her as the main character,...you get the picture). Plus, then I have to go down the road where Megaman goes on a little deletion spree. And finally, this is a tragedy and a remodeling of a story in which Megaman was deleted...permanently, so someone was going to die.

2. You could have brought in the Lan x Mayl moment earlier, you know...

That part came from the fact that this is a remastering of _I'm Sorry_. Not an entirely new story. The plot is completely different, but if everyone whose read the original may see, there are still the original basis of that story is still here. Lan's the cause of someone else dying inadvertently and he still hold's a self-grudge because of his actions and not being able to apologize for it. The ending of that story is also a bittersweet Roll x Megaman moment, just like this one. So I pretty much shifted the whole story out of the cyber world and into the real one. Plus you know, she's still around. Last time I did the cheesy thing where Megaman's remaining data was stored in a letter to Roll so it's only fair that Mayl is a ghost (see ghost 9431 by the way...what? No Mayl, you can't take my number, I earned it!)

3. How in the world can Roll and Megaman see Mayl? She's dead!

According to people who believe in ghosts (shoot...this is my second story about ghosts...you would think I would do more), the spiritual beings give off a certain EM energy. Electromagnetic energy can be picked up by sensors (aka...computers). So, following this logic, I think that Mayl can be visible to Net Navis, just not humans. But the energy is minute so it doesn't really bother the navis. Why did I say that? Well...you all will see...eventually.

4. Why guardian ghost?

Why does everyone have a problem with ghosts! First it's Bass commenting about my name. And now people are wondering why I just didn't turn Mayl into an angel? Honestly...I just wanted to be different. I don't have a legitimate argument for this.

So, I guess my question is…at the end of the day, did you like this story or did you like the first version (if you read the first version)? And for people wondering, yes I only have one tragedy left and it's one I've been pondering ever since...well, I won't give to much away. Let's just say it's an actually situation Capcom never addressed and so the only answer I can think to solve for it is a tragedy. It's actually not me writing just to write, it's honestly one of the few answers I can come up with.

Well, if you cried here's a box of tissues. I guess this had a happish ending, bittersweet to say the least (she's not completely gone, just invisible). Ghost501 logging out!


End file.
